It seems to me that thirty years ago, novels which had old people as the central characters were relatively rare. Books tended to be written by people in their twenties and thirties, about people in their twenties and thirties, for people in their twenties and thirties. Or maybe those were just the novels that I bought back then.

I was thirty-four, back in 1991 when I first read a mainstream novel about an old person. It was called ‘Sadler’s Birthday’ and it was written by Rose Tremain who, back then, was forty-eight. Sadler was seventy-six and was reflecting on his life. The book stuck with me not just because the quality of the writing was so high but because I couldn’t remember ever having had to spend so much time in an old person’s head before.

Of course, the people writing about themselves for themselves were Baby Boomers like me, so I shouldn’t be surprised to find that, now that that generation has reached pensionable age, they are writing books about old people so they are now quite common.

Some of those books are pitching the idea that the old can still do all that they used to be able to do, as long as they can take a nap at regular intervals. Others look more frankly at the changes that ageing and being closer to death bring. I find myself reading them and going ‘Yes, I know what that feels like.’ or shaking my head and going ‘You wish it was like that.’ Either way, I mostly enjoy the time I spend with the old folks.

I currently have forty-three books on my Old People shelf. In this post, I’ve gathered together links to the twenty-one of them that I’ve already reviewed. I hope that, regardless of your age, you’ll find at least some of them interesting.

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‘Novels About Old People’ Reviews

Links to my reviews are listed below in alphabetical order by author surname.

Paul Auster

Frederik Backman

Steph Broadribb

Rye Curtis

Timothy Freriks

Peter Grainger

Virginia Ironside

KJ Kabza

David Koepp

Derek B. Miller

Beth Morrey

Richard Osman

Deanna Raybourn

Richard Russo

Cathleen Schine

Robert Thorogood

Helene Tursten

Salley Vickers

Jen Waldo